The present invention relates to a system that uses the Vehicle to Vehicle and/or the Vehicle to infrastructure communication for safety and mobility applications. The invention provides methods for lane boundary estimation and even some LDW functionality using V2V and/or V2I systems.
Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) is the main enabling technology for connected vehicle applications that will reduce vehicle crashes through fully connected transportation system with integrated wireless devices and road infrastructure. In such connected system, data among vehicles and with road infrastructure will be exchanged with acceptable time delay. DSRC is the enabler for the V2X communication and provides 360 degrees field of view with long range detection/communication capability up to 1000 meter. Data such as vehicle position, dynamics and signals can be exchanged among vehicles and road side equipments, which make the deployment of safety applications, such as crash avoidance systems (warning and control), possible. V2X technology will complement and get fused with the current production crash avoidance technologies that use radar and vision sensing. V2V will give drivers information needed for safer driving (driver makes safe decisions) on the road that radar and vision systems cannot provide. This V2X capability, therefore, offers enhancements to the current production crash avoidance systems, and also enables addressing more complex crash scenarios, such as those occurring at intersections. This kind of integration between the current production crash avoidance systems, V2X technology, and other transportation infrastructure paves the way for realizing automated vehicles system.
The safety, health, and cost of accidents (on both humans and properties) are major concerns for all citizens, local and Federal governments, cities, insurance companies (both for vehicles and humans), health organizations, and the Congress (especially due to the budget cuts, in every level). People inherently make a lot of mistakes during driving (and cause accidents), due to the lack of sleep, various distractions, talking to others in the vehicle, fast driving, long driving, heavy traffic, rain, snow, fog, ice, or too much drinking. If we can make the driving more automated by implementing different scale of safety applications and even controlling the motion of the vehicle for longer period of driving, that saves many lives and potentially billions of dollars each year, in US and other countries. We introduce here an automated vehicle infrastructure and control systems and methods. That is the category of which the current invention is under, where V2X communication technology is vital component of such system, with all the embodiments presented here and in the divisional cases, in this family.